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A private fair housing group in Akron has filed a complaint against an apartment complex and the Internet provider that hosted its web page for an online advertisement that contained the phrase "adult living." "It will be interesting to see who has liability in this case," said Vincent Curry, executive director of the Fair Housing Advocates Association. "If it was a newspaper ad, not only could the housing provider be held liable, but the newspaper itself." The group filed the complaint with the Ohio Civil Rights Commission.

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NationsBank's mortgage lending record is drawing criticism from some low-income housing groups, which are asking federal regulators to block the proposed merger with BankAmerica Corp. The Charlotte-based bank denied mortgage applications in the Triangle from African-Americans four times as often as from whites in 1996, the most recent year for which information is available. While that ratio isn't much different from other local lenders, critics say it is reason enough for the feds to put greater pressure on NationsBank to improve its lending practices.

Mabel Little had something to say to those assembled on the 77th anniversary of one of the nation's worst race riots. ``God bless you wonderful people!'' said Mrs. Little, who lost her church, her business and 35 blocks of her community when white mobs torched it in two days of rioting on June 1, 1921. Hundreds -- both black and white -- attended an emotional ``assembly of repentance'' on Monday in a bare lot where Tulsa's thriving black business district once proudly stood.

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The Ohio Civil Rights Commission yesterday sued the owners and managers of two area apartment complexes, accusing them of discriminating against people with disabilities, blacks and renters with children. Farkas Rentals, operating apartments on Swartz Rd. in Akron, was sued in Summit County Common Pleas Court for allegedly failing to rent to blacks and families with children.

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A Holiday Inn in this Chicago suburb agreed to pay $1 million to settle a lawsuit accusing the hotel of discriminating against black job applicants and guests. The settlement, announced Friday, will be shared by about 1,000 black people who were turned down for jobs from 1990 to 1995. Federal investigators said the motel coded job applications from black people with the number 8, after the black eight-ball in pool. Desk clerks also were told to place blacks in first floor rooms so police ``would be able to get them out quickly if they came to arrest them,'' said Equal Employment Opportunity Commission lawyer Gregory Gochanour.

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Jurors awarded $1 million to a couple who were denied life insurance by an Ohio company because they do not speak or read English. ``I'm very, very happy that justice exists,'' the couple's daughter, Lissette Otero, said after Wednesday's ruling. ``Thank God we have a judicial system here that treats everyone the same, no matter where you're from."

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A community activist started a hunger strike Tuesday to protest the proposed merger between NationsBank and BankAmerica, saying the larger bank would be more prone to overlook the needs of low-income, rural areas. Stella Adams, executive director of the North Carolina Fair Housing Coalition, said small communities already starved for cash to create businesses will be left out by the merger. "This thing is so big that the small communities are being lost in the shuffle," she said. "When you look at what states comprise this new market, a significant part of it is rural and Southern, rural and poor."

According to Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-Redlands), chairman of a House subcommittee with HUD oversight, Los Angeles faces the possibility of being targeted for a federal public housing investigation, despite earlier reports that Housing and Urban Development Department investigators had already picked Baltimore, New Orleans and San Francisco. His remarks are likely to continue the controversy over HUD's examination of those cities, all with black Democratic mayors, among mayors groups and Democratic leaders who complained that the selection was politically and racially motivated. If Los Angeles--whose mayor is a white Republican--is selected, it would defuse some of the complaints. HUD Secretary Andrew Cuomo has criticized the targeting of the original three cities by HUD Inspector General Susan Gaffney, saying it appeared to be "illegal or unethical."

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Reaction was mixed to a pledge by merger partners NationsBank and BankAmerica to lend $350 billion in the next 10 years to low- to moderate-income and minority customers. Unveiled Wednesday without much fanfare, the pledge from the top executives at the soon-to-be-merged banks features a package of products and services, including mortgages, small business loans and consumer loans.

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Home builders, real estate agents and the Ohio Municipal League, a coalition of 600 communities, have joined with a nonprofit developer in asking the Ohio Supreme Court to overturn a recent ruling. In its decision, the Supreme Court voted 4-3 in support of a lower court's ruling that Cuyahoga Falls citizens had a right, guaranteed by the city's charter, to vote to prevent the construction of affordable apartments, even though the building plan complied with all zoning laws. The developer, Buckeye Community Hope Foundation, had proposed in spring 1996 to build 72 apartments for families living on moderate incomes. At public meetings when the development was discussed, some residents said the apartments would attract "those types of people" who "bring boom boxes, drugs, gangs and too many children."